


Paintbrush Hair and Doggy Teammates

by MapacheLuna



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: M/M, There be Doggos, pet shop
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-10
Updated: 2017-04-10
Packaged: 2018-10-17 03:03:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,913
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10585086
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MapacheLuna/pseuds/MapacheLuna
Summary: Wakatoshi wouldn’t be able to say whether or not he actually did manage a smile for Satori’s picture, but he could say that while Satori’s hair was stiff with the product he used, the feeling of it as it ran across his cheek was more like the brushes his mother used for painting; rough from use and constant washes, but pleasing, full of memories of joyful and carefree afternoons, and in the end when it was pulled away, it always left a gentle yearning for more.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [miracleboysatori](https://archiveofourown.org/users/miracleboysatori/gifts).



> *Moonwalks in after almost one year of not posting anything*
> 
> Heeeeeeeeeeeeeey, I'm back! And with some Ushiten, written for Kat's support book! Was my first time writing the Shiratorizawa crew, but you know what, I realized that I really love writing Ushijima, so this will likely not be the last time either. *Finger guns*

Wakatoshi stared, unblinking.

His opponent stared right back, head tilted just the barest degree to the right. He was being assessed, he decided after a moment, eyes focused on the bright eyes narrowing in that round face and he wasn’t sure he was passing whatever test he was being subjected to. Something about that nose scrunch was familiar, and it was telling him that the other was unimpressed by his, well, everything.

“Pft,” Wakatoshi didn’t have to turn to know that it was Satori’s arm slinging around his neck, but he looked anyway, vision being filled with bright red hair and a high, barely freckled cheekbone. It was a nicer sight than the one in front of him. “That cat looks like Oikawa.”

Wakatoshi blinked, looking back, and yes, he supposed he could see a similarity between the setter and this cream colored kitten, particularly when he took in the proud set of its little shoulders, the squint that still couldn’t hide how big those eyes normally were, and that nose scrunch, features almost lost amongst all of its wayward fluffy fur.

“Yes,” Wakatoshi agreed after a beat, “They have the same hair.”

Satori let out a loud peal of laughter right next to his ear, but he found that he couldn’t bring himself to mind; Satori was the kind of person who laughed more often than he didn’t, but normally at the expense of others, and usually following his own commentary. _Making_ him laugh always felt like a well-earned victory, especially for Wakatoshi, who had never really had “funny” as an adjective attached to his name. Satori’s laughter was all the sweeter when it was because of him alone.

“You’re right, Wakatoshi-kun,” Satori snickered, taking his arm back to dig in his sweatshirt pocket, leaving a shadow of warmth across Wakatoshi’s shoulders. “We _need_ to get a picture with it now.”

“Why?” Wakatoshi asked, letting Satori tug him down all the same, bringing their faces uncomfortably close to the hissing cat’s. “I don’t think it likes us, Satori.”

“It’s Oikawa, but without being able to curse us out, of course it doesn’t like us,” The redheaded boy was stretching an arm out in front of them, tongue poking out as he tilted his phone back and forth. “I like this one better though.”

Wakatoshi cast a glance at the agitated cat, watching as it paced back and forth on its perch, eyeing Satori’s head with a slightly worrisome gleam in its eyes. Wakatoshi settled his arm around Satori’s shoulders, cautiously putting his forearm between his neck and the fluff ball. “I’m not sure I like the idea of an Oikawa with claws.”

“At least this one doesn’t come with disturbingly buff and attractive bodyguards,” Satori hummed, distracted as he appeared to finally locate the filter he wanted, quickly bringing his free hand up in a peace sign under his chin, and leaning his head into the space created by Wakatoshi’s shoulder and arm around him. “Smile, Wakatoshi-kun!”

Wakatoshi wouldn’t be able to say whether or not he actually did manage a smile for Satori’s picture, but he could say that while Satori’s hair was stiff with the product he used, the feeling of it as it ran across his cheek was more like the brushes his mother used for painting; rough from use and constant washes, but pleasing, full of memories of joyful and carefree afternoons, and in the end when it was pulled away, it always left a gentle yearning for _more_.

* * *

 

“Hey, Wakatoshi,” Wakatoshi looked up, the grey and black hair going from a distorted mass of awkward tentacles through the hamster display, to the purposeful feathered style that his setter preferred. “You alright?”

Wakatoshi straightened up with a small frown. “I am alright,” his frown deepened, scanning the store for the rest of their group. “Is something wrong?” He could see Reon near the fish, hands in his pockets as he watched something in the tank in front of him with a serene expression on his face, and Hayato and Satori a little further back, near the reptiles, having what looked like a very spirited conversation that involved a lot of furtive glances back and forth, and the exchange of money…?

“What?” Eita chanced a look over his shoulder, barely sparing the scene a roll of his eyes. “They’re Reon’s kids today; I don’t even want to know.”

“They’re yours on the weekends,” Reon called back without missing a beat, magnanimously ignoring the finger Eita flicked his way.

“You’re not my real dad!” Hayato barked, pointing a finger in their general direction before spinning on his heel, marching towards the front with Satori right behind him.

“Yeah, what he said!” Satori stuck his tongue out at them, doing some weird stilted shuffle as he walked background, dragging his feet across the linoleum, sneakers squeaking loudly, even amidst the noise caused by the animals all around them.

“Three years, and he still can’t do the goddamn Moonwalk right,” Eita muttered under his breath, turning back to Wakatoshi with a nonplussed smile. “I was just asking because you seemed kind of quiet over here. Well,” Eita amended, “More than usual.”

“Oh.” Wakatoshi found himself lifting and dropping his shoulders with a small shrug. “I just wanted to get away from the Oi-kat.” He pointed back towards the cat room. “It didn’t seem to like the flash from Satori’s phone when we took its picture, and it attacked us.” It had actually ended up causing a small ruckus amongst the other cats in the room too, and Satori and him were asked to kindly not go back inside for the rest of their visit by the staff. Wakatoshi couldn’t say he felt the loss much; he had decided that he didn’t quite like cats all too much.

“The Oi-kat.” Eita repeated slowly.

“Oikawa cat,” Wakatoshi clarified. “Satori named it.”

“Of course he did.”

“He did.” Wakatoshi nodded.

“Right,” Eita stared at him for a beat with an open mouth, before visibly shaking his head. “Anyway, I was actually on my way to look at the dogs; the girl up front told me that they’re about to bring them out over there.” He pointed towards a large open space towards the back of the store, separated from the bags of dog food and cat litter towering around it by a pen of questionable sturdiness. “Want to come?”

Wakatoshi didn’t even hesitate. “Yes.”

* * *

 

“They’re pretty cute, huh?” Eita was poking his fingers through the pen, unperturbed by little chocolate colored puppy gnawing at his fingertips, only offering it a smile as it tripped over its floppy ears when it tried to shake its head. “Kind of makes you want to take them all home.”

“Hm,” Wakatoshi cast his eyes over the small pile of wiggling bodies in front of them, taking in all the different shades and shapes. His gaze fell on a tiny black furred one, its fur standing up in spikes all over its body, granting it the appearance that it had run headfirst into an electrical outlet. It had been taking running leaps onto the backs of his much bigger, but unsuspecting playmates, letting out one single bark of triumph when he succeeded in knocking them over. “That one looks like Hayato.”

Eita looked over, immediately snickering when he caught sight of it. “Don’t let him hear you say that.”

Wakatoshi only blinked at him, pointing at the puppy still gnawing at the setter’s hand. “That’s Goshiki.”

The sound Eita let out then could only really be called a cackle. “Okay, in that case, that one,” he pointed at a long-limbed, fair colored dog, one of the tiny black one’s earliest victims that had apparently never bothered to straighten up out of the sprawl it had landed in, “is Kawanishi.”

Wakatoshi appraised the other’s boy choice, watching the disinterested way the bigger dog huffed at the chocolate pup as it finally wandered away from Eita’s fingers towards it, only to immediately start gnawing on its ears instead.

They both watched as the fair dog stood up, towering over the smaller puppy for a moment, only to flop over on top of him without a second’s hesitation.

“Yes,” Wakatoshi agreed. “That’s Kawanishi.”

“What are you guys doing?” Wakatoshi would have been startled by Satori’s sudden appearance, but three years of having the other boy burst into his dorm unexpectedly had desensitized him a bit.

Eita was not so lucky, and he almost fell into the pen with a curse for his troubles.

“What the hell, Tendou?!” Satori’s smirk just widened a fraction before he turned back to Wakatoshi with an inquisitive tilt of his head. Wakatoshi couldn’t help but think it looked better on him than on the Oikawa lookalike cat.

“Those dogs over there are Kawanishi and Goshiki,” Wakatoshi told Satori, pointing to the spot where the little chocolate lab was struggling to get out from underneath the bigger dog, “And that one,” he pointed to the wild-furred black puppy, “is Hayato.”

Wakatoshi was graced with more of Satori’s laughter, and he almost didn’t hear his words over the flush of warmth that settled comfortably in his chest at the thought that he’d managed to earn the other boy’s laugh twice in the same day.

“Then that one over there is definitely you, huh, Eita?” Satori pointed across the pen, and Wakatoshi followed his finger to a puppy that apparently hadn’t decided whether it was going to have black or white fur, patchworks of different colors popping around its body indiscriminately, lending it an unfortunate appearance, if Wakatoshi had to be honest.

As they watched, the patchwork puppy ambled over to the puppy pile, bending over to sniff at the struggling chocolate pup for a moment, before stepping right over him, leaning down to start immediately licking at the fair dog’s face.

“Oh my God,” Satori wheezed through his fingers, scrambling in his sweatshirt pocket. “Eita please, control your hormones; you’re in public.”

“Shut up!” Eita’s voice reached an interesting pitch, face an equally as interesting pink. 

“There are children present, you perv-”

“Satori, I swear to God-”

“I’m just saying, Goshiki is _right_ there-!”

I’m going to kill you-”

Wakatoshi reached out and gently tugged Satori behind him, finding comfort in the way the other boy’s hands immediately settled on his waist. “Please don’t.”

“Bleh~” Satori peaked around his shoulder, sticking his tongue out at the fuming setter. “Wakatoshi’s gonna protect me.”

Eita stabbed a finger in their direction, mouth open to retort, only to stop as the sound of yelps increased in volume from the pen next to them. He turned, furious expression melting with a snort, an amused quirk taking over his mouth. “Looks like we found _you_ , Satori.”

Wakatoshi peered over, eyes immediately being drawn to a reddish brown puppy that appeared to be squirming on its back, long limbs awkwardly waving in the air before it managed to scramble back onto them, looking around at the startled puppies around it with perfectly round eyes. It had a narrow face, long and short-furred, at a sharp contrast with the long fur covering its disproportionately wide floppy ears. Standing up, it was clear by the sloping narrowness of its body that this dog was built for speed over anything else, but by the way it balanced unsteadily on its gangly legs, it was clear that it was still trying to learn how to navigate its body.

It was adorable.

“Aw,” Satori cooed, waggling his fingers at the puppy. “Awkward baby Tendou.”

“It looks like you when you try to Moonwalk,” Eita snickered.

Satori narrowed his eyes at the other boy. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Meanwhile the puppy had finally managed to find a way to place its legs underneath itself that didn’t make it look like it would tip over with the next strong wind, only to immediately sneeze and topple over onto the wild-furred puppy as it ran by.

“And look at that, you just took out our libero, good job, Satori.”

Wakatoshi fell in love.

“At least I wasn’t licking the second year blocker’s face like a shameless-”

Wakatoshi walked closer to the pen, ignoring his arguing teammates behind him for the moment -he could see Reon walking down the aisle, herding Hayato ahead of him, a glass tank held firmly in his hands, so he trusted that they wouldn’t be kicked out just yet,- and signaled to the girl inside the pen. “May I hold that one?”

She looked between him and the gangly puppy curiously, raising an eyebrow at him and pointing at the puppy. “This one?”

Wakatoshi nodded, holding out his arms. “I promise, I am very careful with animals. I have one dog at home already,” he added helpfully.

The girl seemed more amused than concerned as she scooped the puppy up, shushing it gently at the high yelp it gave out at the sudden change in altitude.

“I’m not worried,” she told him, gently depositing the puppy in his arms, gangly limbs, floppy ears and all, “You’re just the first person who’s ever wanted to hold her, is all.”

“That is a shame,” Wakatoshi murmured, looking down at the wide-eyed stare the puppy directed up her narrow snout at him. “She is a beautiful dog.”

“Wakatoshi?” Satori piped up behind him, voice lilting up in a question. “What are you doing?”

“Holding a dog.”

“I can see that,” Satori sounded just as amused as the staff girl had been, but somehow better; perhaps because he had come up next to him and was reaching out to pet the dog in his arms, fingers gentle as he ran them through her fur, or maybe it was even the way he leaned into Wakatoshi’s side like it was something he did every day, or it might have even been because his paintbrush hair was sliding against Wakatoshi’s cheek once again. “But _why_ are you holding the Tendou puppy, Wakatoshi-kun?”

“Actually, her name is Amaterasu,” the girl offered helpfully before Wakatoshi could even think of a response.

“Like the Naruto move?!”

“Like the goddess,” The girl was smiling as she shook her head though, so Wakatoshi assumed it was a question she got often. “The owner thought her fur looked a bit like a sunrise, so he named her that.”

Satori pouted. “I think the Naruto version sounded cooler.”

“Shocker,” Eita muttered under his breath to Reon, pausing to glance down at the aquarium in Hayato’s arms. “Is that a snake?”

“Amaterasu,” Wakatoshi repeated, looking down at the red puppy nestling against his chest, whining as she tried to make her long limbs cooperate with her. “I’ll take her.”

“Wait,” Satori’s head shot around to look at him, shock plain on his features. “What?”

“That means two of us got new pets,” Hayato smirked triumphantly up at Eita. “So get off my dick and go hop on Kawanishi’s.”

“ _What?!_ ” Eita looked slightly constipated; Wakatoshi would have to recommend him the tablet his grandmother used.

“Do you have enough space for another dog though?” Reon asked, a contemplative look crossing his face, likely trying to remember what Wakatoshi’s backyard looked like.

“We have enough,” Wakatoshi turned to the employee, shock still written clearly on her face. “Is there anything I need to sign?”

“Uh, yeah,” She blinked rapidly, reaching up to scratch her the back of her neck, eyeing Wakatoshi and then the group around him with the first wary glance he’d seen from her yet. “Are you sure you want that one?”

“Yes,” Wakatoshi nodded, pulling the dog, _Amaterasu,_ closer to his chest. “I would like to take her home today, if that's possible.”

The girl spent one more harrowing minute looking him up and down before finally shrugging. “Alright then. There’s a fee and some paperwork you need to fill out, but that’s it. I can bring them out for you if you’re willing to wait. You can put her down, if you’d like.”

“I’d like to hold her, thank you,” Wakatoshi bowed his head at her, watching absently as she shrugged again and disappeared into a backdoor he had previously overlooked.

“Wakatoshi-kun,” He looked back to see Satori staring at him with one quirked eyebrow, hand on his hip and a questioning tilt to his lips. “Why’d you do that?”

“Because I want her,” Wakatoshi told him, shifting Amaterasu in his arms to cradle her more securely in the crook of his elbows. “She reminds me of you.”

Wakatoshi could swear that there was the barest hint of a flush shining underneath the freckles on Satori’s nose. “That’s because she’s the Tendou puppy.” He furrowed his nose, and somehow, that looked cuter on him too.

“I know,” Wakatoshi agreed. “And she’s beautiful.”

And if that barely visible pink turned into a full-blown blush across Satori’s face, well, Wakatoshi didn’t point it out. The same way he didn’t say anything when Eita sent him a picture of Satori with his face buried in Amaterasu’s fur later that day, his wide smile barely hidden behind her fluffy ears, obviously taken while he had been signing the paperwork needed to take her home.

He just set it as his phone’s wallpaper, and stored it next to the sound of making Satori laugh, and the feeling of his paintbrush hair against his cheek; all hopefully only the beginning of a long list of similar memories waiting to be made.

He could hardly wait.

**Author's Note:**

> In case anyone was wondering, Amaterasu is a Saluki puppy, and Shirabu is definitely a cat, so that's why he wasn't represented in that dog pen. 
> 
> *Moonwalks out*


End file.
